AMA: Hey everyone, I'm Sandeep, co-founder of Dezerv. Ask me anything!

Asal hustle

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Hey Salt!

Great questions.

1. Investment management is a domain that requires capital upfront: even before the first client ‘walks’ in, all systems need to be in place — a team of investment professionals, strong operations and compliance, security systems etc. VC allowed us to build this to a level of quality that we wanted to deliver.

2. There are three differences in how we run our portfolios — One, our portfolio construction is led by a strong process that my co-founder Vaibhav and the investment team have created. Two, we deliver these portfolios in a manner that our investment team ‘owns’ performance — centralised, controlled execution helps us ensure consistency of performance. Three, wherever regulations allow (as they do in case of PMS), we operate under a zero fixed fee, only share of profit model — aligning us with the client’s objectives entirely.

3. To be able to effectively manage our capital, each one of us needs to be clear on what our tolerance to downside is. We should answer this question for ourselves, and make sure we communicate this to our investment manager/advisor. The biggest investment mistakes are made when we are not clear about this, both in bull markets and in times of downside.

@SandeepJethwani I really love the detailed answer. This appears to be a wonderfully structured thought process.

It appears counter-intuitive to me, because I always thought it is a asset light business. But, it makes sense that one would be able to setup excellent teams and processes right at the get go using venture capital.

Once again, much appreciated. Thanks for your wonderful insights. ✨

Hey WideScene,

Tough answer to give :) It’s 42 years after all! But here’s the short version: money was always a conversation in the household growing up — we didn’t have too much of it, and my parents were both PSU bankers. So at IIM Bangalore, it was clear to me that I wanted to be around investments/capital allocation. Was fortunate enough to get into Kotak’s wealth management business in its nascent stage, and then as part of the team that founded IIFL Wealth (now 360One). In late 2020, it was clear that successful professionals need help with doing better with their hard earned money. Dezerv was born in mid-2021, with my fantastic co-founders Sahil and Vaibhav, who’d been friends and colleagues for nearly 15 years.

Wealth Monitor is a free portfolio review tool developed by Dezerv’s team to help you identify red flags in your mutual fund portfolio. The app analyzes your portfolio’s risk level, diversification, underperforming funds and your investing discipline.

Even before you make a new investment, you need to know how your existing portfolio is doing. While everyone ends up focusing on where to invest new cash, we often ignore our current investments. Wealth Monitor is our endeavour to help investors review their existing portfolio, and guide them on how they can do better.

50k , as far i remember

Read it again carefully, What I read on official website 50lakhs across all investment offerings

Hey AlphaGrindset,

You’re right — the minimum is high, and with hard earned funds it is hard to trust someone. First, there are no hacks to trust and therefore it is indeed about playing the long game. We believe trust is about how we engage/work with our clients on a daily basis (and that means taking tough calls daily) and how we communicate (again needs to be done with very high frequency). Fortunately, especially in the PMS there are multiple checks and balances — we use ICICI Bank as our custodian (so they hold the demat in your name). Now, we have been fortunate that we are now trusted by clients with over INR 3,400 crores across all modes of engagement, and trust in our business compounds too.

Thanks so much for answering!

I did not know you can have the demat with someone else, that’s good then.

“There are no hacks to trust”, fair enough 🙌

Hey Zeus,

Thank you for evaluating us!

1. Our early product was (and is still live) a portfolio of well-diligenced mutual funds across equities, fixed income, gold and international assets. Now, we clearly needed to do a better job of communicating the value prop here. A team of experts (with nearly 2 decades of experience each) crafts these portfolios using investment models that have been built carefully, and constantly iterated to improve. About a year ago, we also launched our PMS strategies — which build on these principles, plus operate at zero fixed fees, and only a share of profit. One way to start, is to review your existing portfolio with Wealth Monitor, and we can take it from there. Or you could pick a slot for us to chat here: https://bit.ly/SandeepJcalendly

2. Dezerv’s offerings focus on the core, long-term part of your portfolio. This is ideally the largest part of your investment corpus, one that you want to compound over time without too much volatility. While the answer varies for your risk taking appetite, this core portfolio should be at least about two-thirds of your overall corpus.

3. Mid-twenties is the best time to invest — in yourself! Investing in your own skills at this age is far more important than focusing on the portfolio. Not sure this is the answer you wanted, but I truly believe in this — the best inflation hedge is an investment in your own skills.

Thank you for the elaborate answer Sandeep, this is quite helpful and comprehensive. Will surely reach out and check out Dezerv again.

Was looking for your heartfelt/honest answer on 3 from your own reflections and learnings and got just that.

Thanks a ton !

Hey Deeply, thanks for trusting us to begin with.

There’s clearly more work ahead but we do provide access to an individual should you want to talk to someone. Over time, we are strengthening our ability to deliver intelligent nudges without (and this is important) spamming you. Via a Whatsapp integration, we do nudge our clients on top-ups especially when markets are down. I am keen to get more feedback, and help you invest further with us. If you are okay to have a conversation with me, please use this link (https://bit.ly/SandeepJcalendly) and book a call. Hopefully, we will get to chat soon.

Thanks again!

Hey ElomDusk,

You’re not alone — 2021 was crazy, and the end of the ZIRP era meant the transition wasn’t going to be easy. The good news? You’re just 27 and you have a whole life of wealth creation ahead of you. I too made my mistakes early in life (2008 happened when I was 27!).

We could set up a chat with one of our investment experts for your situation, but here is a short (if somewhat generic) answer. It’s important you invest in growth assets — which to me at this point is Indian equities. A portfolio of well-diligenced equity mutual funds (both active and passive) that is periodically rebalanced is the way to go. And setting up automated top-ups (or SIPs) helps dollar-cost average as well. Once you’ve accumulated a meaningful corpus, you could increase your risk appetite by evaluating unlisted assets, but — and this is critical — done through SEBI regulated vehicles.

Hey Careermode, this is a good question (and something we thought about too). We operate in a regulated space, where it isn’t hard to replicate anything, at least in the face of it. But in a way, it requires a fundamental change in the business model, way of approaching things, the team etc. And as they say, culture eats strategy for breakfast and execution eats strategy for lunch.